Data in a Circular Economy (DiCE)

The challenge

As a result of increasing concern about unstable supply chains and demand for sustainable products, companies are diverting their investments towards developing circular goods and production processes. This transition serves to reduce emissions and negative impacts on local communities.

However, adopting closed loop supply chains and implementing reverse logistics creates significant challenges, including uncertainty about the quantity, quality and timing of material flows.

To create value, executives and managers require visibility on the design of products, which is the major contributor to the minimisation of organisational hurdles and emissions. ERP systems do not support this analysis and finding a successful pathway with the considerable number of data points collected each day by an organisation is difficult.

The solution

Deloitte aims to leverage SAP Master Data to support its clients in strategic decisions on vendor and material selection as they implement circular economy principles at the design stage of a product.

The solution customises the client’s ERP system to collect circular data on suppliers, materials and finished products. This information is then converted into KPIs through a Deloitte algorithm and dashboards to simplify the understanding of strengths and weaknesses throughout the supply chain. This process facilitates strategic decision-making during the design stage of a product.

Business benefits

By introducing Deloitte’s approach to collect and simplify circular data, you will be able to achieve the following benefits:

• Simplified circularity: one single scoring system and consistent data logic allow for simplified comprehension of circularity for both subject matter experts and business users.
• Financial value: implementing circularity at the design stage of a product permits cost savings on material purchases and carbon market taxes.
• Mitigate risk: developing circular solutions creates resilience against climate change disruptions and reduces risk from regulatory compliance.
• Competitive advantage: innovation from new designs and lower emissions attracts consumers, clients and talent.
• Stakeholder value: monitoring circularity performance sustains innovation in business partners and builds a strong brand image for the wider public.

Further outlook

Deloitte as a trusted partner
Increasing the efficiency of operations and products is just a first step in reducing environmental impact. Deloitte supports its clients at the edge of innovation by proposing a solution to start eliminating environmental impacts.

Thanks to Riccardo Casarin and Vasilios Philippou for their contribution to the ideation and design of this solution.